I can imagine a scenario where there is a contentious MASF, and popular Core developers insist this is an attack on Bitcoin. Economic nodes like Coinbase could attempt a new idea called a User Rejected Soft Fork (URSF) that will invalidateblock any blocks with upgraded transactions.

While a URSF is called a soft fork, it is actually a hard fork because it breaks the heaviest chain rule. Then suppose Core officially releases a real soft fork update, without the code from the other soft fork. This is still a hard fork.

The nodes that never updated have already confirmed the blocks, so any attempt to block a soft fork with 51% hash power is always a hard fork.

BlackRock says if there is a fork, they will decide for themselves which is the real Bitcoin. So imagine one soft fork gives us global scalability and privacy, but BlackRock wants an expensive rock that does nothing. While I don’t think BlackRock could single handily crash Bitcoin’s price, they could choose the rock and adequately effect the price enough to invoke fear.

You don’t have to worry about this kind of attack. The worst thing these corporations could do is convince Bitcoin Core devs to argue about every soft fork so that Bitcoin is ossified and cannot scale. Or maybe use Core devs to convince us a certain soft fork is too dangerous, when it’s the only possible way for Bitcoin to globally scale and have truly private transactions.

It’s been a few days, and I’m just wondering if anyone has had a chance to try out soverynode? Is there something about it that’s holding you back? I know it needs a lot of work, but any feedback would be greatly appreciated 😊

Paul Sztorc wrote an article called Measuring Decentralization in 2015 that explains why small, cheap nodes are essential to decentralization. Increasing the blocksize only works on a layer two, because you don’t have to store the entire blockchain.

https://www.truthcoin.info/blog/measuring-decentralization/

Scaling Bitcoin with sidechains:

https://www.truthcoin.info/blog/thunder/

I created BTCapsule about a year ago, and it might not be exactly what you’re looking for, but maybe it will be helpful.

At first, BTCapsule used the Network Time Protocol (NTP), and when a certain date was met, the information would decrypt. However, I discovered I could trick my computer into thinking it was getting the time from Google while I’m offline.

Then I tried making an executable and storing the encryption key directly into the code. Terrible idea. Someone found it.

Now BTCapsule uses timelock to create two paper wallets. One wallet has a private key that can broadcast the tx immediately, and the other wallet must wait for the timelock to expire before broadcasting. This allows the original owner to always have access, and the recipient to have access in the future if anything happens to the original owner.

I’m not sure about arbitrary data, but I’m sure something could be configured.

BTCapsule for PC:

https://github.com/BTCapsule/BTCapsule

BTCapsule for Android:

https://github.com/BTCapsule/BTCapsule_Android

Are you trying to import it into Bitcoin Core?

If so, you can try the Python code at the bottom of this post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/r5g0ws/howto_ways_to_use_12_word_seeds_bip39_in_bitcoin/

I’ll warn you that Bitcoin Core WIF uses 128 bits and mnemonics are 512 bits. The best I’ve been able to do is create individual addresses from the mnemonic and importing the private key into Core.

https://github.com/BTCapsule/soverynode

I want BIP300. If Bitcoin is going to destroy the banks and become the world’s money, it must have the properties of cash. Fast, cheap, and private. I don’t care what BlackRock or Michael Saylor wants.

Lightning is broken, and never had what it takes to scale Bitcoin anyway. There’s no reason to be concerned about "shitcoins on Bitcoin" because we already have monkee jpegs on L1. If anything in the future could possibly be worse, then we should already have the ability to throw it on a sidechain.

Miners don’t even need to run a sidechain node. Even if they did, it wouldn’t matter. Nobody has to keep an entire history of the L2 blockchain. Every peg-out is like a new genesis block, because L1 has confirmed that everything is valid to that point.

Added support for BIP39

Bitcoin Core is not compatible with BIP39, but now we can do it anyway  

Also, use the -testnet flag when running node.js to use soverynode as a mobile testnet wallet

https://github.com/BTCapsule/soverynode

The website provided by localtunnel is somewhat random, and I may be able to make it longer and more secure. It’s your own personal url, but it could be better.

I’m working on options to self host. It looks like this will require opening ports on your router and installing an SSL, so I’m not sure if that can be easily solved. This may just be a trade off. Personally, I would rather use someone else’s server to display a GUI of my node, than to trust someone else’s node.

---

I’m working on self hosting options, but I may be able to remove the need to type in your IP address. You can also delete all the localtunnel code and use ngrok to tunnel the wallet, but ngrok is not open source. It has some nice features though.

Eventually, the plan is to have an executable that you just open and immediately have your url and wallet without friction.

---

I have replaced localtunnel with tunnelmole, so now entering the public IP is no longer required. That was some major friction that I’m glad is gone. I may be able to edit the conf file automatically too, but it might be best to leave that to the user.

I have created a simple nodejs app that makes RPC calls to your node, and then creates a secure tunnel to view your localhost on your phone.

There is a lot of work left to do, but it can execute some basic functions:

• balance and transactions are displayed
• choose between your various wallets
• generate a receive address with QR code
• scan QR codes to send Bitcoin (fee set to economical for now)

You can also save the website to your homescreen, and it will open in fullscreen like a regular app.

I hope to encourage people to run a full pruned node and become economic nodes.

https://github.com/BTCapsule/soverynode

Video of sending testnet Bitcoin from my node on my iPhone:

https://v.nostr.build/nx8g.mp4

I have added a video on my website with directions to use BTCapsule. In less than 5 minutes, you can timelock your Bitcoin for inheritance without trusting a third party. Check it out at:

https://btcapsule.com

The US does not have the cheapest electricity, but they have the money printer. Price is not a concern to the government, especially when it comes to war. The fiat system is built in such a way that it incentivizes spending as quickly as possible, which is the opposite of Bitcoin. Fiat was created to fund war, and as long as the money can be spent before it affects the market, those who print the money can buy whatever they want for the current market prices.

Maybe you will find this article interesting. Gigi can explain it a lot better than I can:

https://dergigi.com/2021/08/02/implications-of-outlawing-bitcoin/

I agree with this wholeheartedly. As an American, I don’t really care what the Constitution says. However, people in this country view it as a religious document, and believe everything must fall into one of its categories. The Ninth Amendment is the only one that matters to me, but it is ignored by all institutions.




In the US, speech means much more than having the freedom to say things. It can be ideas, art, actions, etc. A political cartoon is speech like sticking up your middle finger to a politician.

Gigi argues that Bitcoin is speech because we can roll some dice or flip a coin to get our private key. We can then convert that key into a secret “phrase”. So creating and writing down the private key is speech. To make this action illegal is essentially restricting our freedom of speech and thought.

Jason Lowery, who works for the US military, argues that miners are at digital war against each other based on first principles of bacteria fighting for natural selection. He has build an entire philosophy on the idea that mining is a non-lethal means of warfare called “soft-war” that can replace a majority of “hard-war” that involves physical bodies. It’s a noble idea on the surface, but he builds on this analogy to say mining could be a weapon of mass mutual destruction, and it’s in the interest of the US government to protect mining, rather than ban it. He uses the Second Amendment to explain why the government cannot forbid us from Bitcoin or mining, but this worries me because US citizens are not permitted to possess the same weapons that the government possesses (WMDs).

So none of this is about banning Bitcoin. It seems worse to me. Instead, I feel like the government wants to seize the means of Bitcoin production (mining) and start a digital war with other countries to have the biggest hash rate. This would mean individuals could no longer compete with mining.

I agree that we don’t need to be debating these things, but there are officials in the US military who are bringing up this debate.

I don’t care what the precedence of anything is. The government still classifies tomatoes as a vegetable for tax purposes. I don’t trust the government. But I have serious concerns about this, because Jason has implied mining is a weapon of mass mutual destruction. Of course he says it’s “non-lethal” and claims to love Bitcoin and want it to advance, but I’m very uncomfortable with this idea.

I don’t mean to confuse anyone. This is not my analysis. The weapon position is from someone named Jason Lowery who works for the US Space Force. I do believe Bitcoin falls under speech because we have a 12 word seed phrase that gives us access to our property. Nobody can say we are not allowed to keep those 12 words in our head, speak those words, or write them down.

There is an ongoing battle on Bitcoin Twitter about whether Bitcoin should be considered a weapon (and protected by the Second Amendment in the US) or speech (and protected by the First Amendment in the US).

The legal precedent is that encryption is a munition in the United States, and therefore protected by the Second Amendment. During the Crypto Wars of the 90’s, cypherpunk Adam Back made a ridicule of this by creating a t-shirt with an RSA-encrypted message on the back, making it illegal to export or show this shirt to non-US citizen.

EDIT

I personally don’t care what Bitcoin is called. However, there are people in the US government trying to legally classify Bitcoin as a weapon. That is why this conversation is important. To me, Bitcoin is property, and nobody has the right to take your property. Unfortunately in the US, property is irrelevant because politicians have interpreted the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to mean they can regulate absolutely any "substance" in existence.

I have added directions to build BTCapsule from the Python code on my GitHub. There are a few dependencies that people might have trouble with, so hopefully that makes it easier.

Also, there is a neat app on Android called testnet wallet that lets you send and receive testnet coins. You can use it to scan the QR code generated by BTCapsule to easily send coins to the P2SH address.

I think a video is a great idea. I will try to work on one soon.

Right now, the testnet version is the only option I’ve made available (unless you build it from the Python code). I don’t want to release the mainnet version until I’m sure everything is working as it should. I’ve tried to mess things up and catch any bugs, but a fresh set of eyes would be very helpful.